In recent years, zoom lenses having high variable power have been placed in lens shutter cameras, and zoom lenses have come to be desired in which the zoom ratio is 3 or greater.
As an example of this type of zoom lens, a zoom lens is known such as that disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication H08-43737. With this zoom lens, the f-number (hereinafter F.sub.NO) at the wide-angle end is approximately 4.6, and the various aberrations are well-corrected.
However, the lens described in the above publication is composed of four lens groups. Because zooming is accomplished by changing the spacings between the four lens groups, there has been the problem that the construction of the lens drive mechanism is complex. Thus, a desire has developed for a zoom lens in which the construction of the lens drive mechanism is simple and compact, where there is a wide viewing angle at the wide-angle end, the overall length of the zoom lens is short at the telephoto end, and the zoom lens exhibits high optical performance.